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| TV Interviews |
 Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS, participating in the France 24 debate: "Afghanistan: tougher than Iraq" (10 February 2008).
Part 1 / Part 2.
Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS, talks to Russia Today about the deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan (29 December 2008).
Norine MacDonald QC, President of ICOS, talks to CNN about the increasing presence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban have a presence in 72% of the country now, up from 54% in 2007 (10 December 2008).
Norine MacDonald QC, President of ICOS, talks to CBC about the increasing presence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The international forces are failing with their strategies to bring security to the country (10 December 2008).
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| Press Releases |
US Makes "Historic Shift" in Counter-Narcotics Policy in Afghanistan: Move to End Poppy Crop Eradication Hailed as Monumental Step by ICOS
ICOS' Poppy for Medicine Proposal is Crucial Part of Solution to Afghanistan’s Opium Crisis
LONDON – The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) today hailed the monumental move by the US to stop the failed policy of poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, and it called on the US, UK and the rest of the international community to back its Poppy for Medicine proposal in the war-torn country.
On Saturday, the US announced that it would withdraw its support for efforts to eradicate opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that eradication "didn't reduce the amount of money the Taliban got by one dollar.” Shortly after the Taliban fell in 2001, the US-led international community in Afghanistan adopted eradication as part of their counter-narcotics policy in an attempt to curtail the opium crisis.
Since then, eradication policies have been inefficient and counter-productive in winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.
“Eradication provides the Taliban insurgency with an even more valuable currency than money, and that is loyalty,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS. “Farmers have turned against the US and ISAF military when their livelihoods were destroyed; with the US stopping its own eradication policies, the West has a real opportunity to turn the situation around and build trust with the Afghan people.”
“This move by the US represents a ‘historic shift’ in its counter-narcotics policy, yet it won’t go far enough to alleviate the opium crisis in Afghanistan,” said Reinert. “In addition to ending poppy eradication programs, our Poppy for Medicine proposal is a crucial step to successfully cutting off Taliban supplies and provide sustainable and viable livelihoods to Afghan farmers.”
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